\n Beth Nixon, 25, from York, is currently appearing as controversial character Megan Walsh on Coronation Street – her first role on the small screen.\n<\/p>\n
\n She credits York College with lighting the spark that has led to her big break and helping her overcome the self-doubt that nearly ended her career before it began.\n<\/p>\n
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\n Beth said: “I came to college and did an audition, but I then decided I was going to do media. But the tutor doing the interview for the media course told me I should do acting instead because all I spoke about was how I wanted to become an actor!\n<\/p>\n
\n “We did A Vampire Story\u00a0by Moira Buffini\u00a0at college and I had the best time doing that. I was a baddie \u2013 obviously \u2013 with a Cockney accent. then, the second year show we did was Everyman and I played the Devil \u2013 the ultimate baddie.”\n<\/p>\n
\n She described the fear and excitement she felt upon hearing she had got the part, saying that she had ‘screamed her head off’ when hearing the news.\n<\/p>\n
\n Beth with co-star Rob Mallard, who plays Daniel Osbourne (Image: Provided)\n<\/p>\n
\n Beth said: “I cried because it\u2019s been four years since I graduated and this is my first TV role.\u00a0It\u2019s been a hard time and I was really close to quitting and pursuing a different career, so this just came at exactly the right time.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n “I\u2019d auditioned for Corrie twice before \u2013 as a baddie both times \u2013 including for the role of Lauren, then, earlier this year, my agent sent me a casting brief and explained it was for a paedophile, which is a bit crazy to play because they\u2019re obviously not a redeemable character, so they can push it pretty far.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Her storyline – playing a sports coach and teacher who is having a relationship with a schoolboy – has\u00a0prompted strong reactions from the public and is set to feature in the Christmas Day episode.\n<\/p>\n
\n Beth is hoping her storyline will shed light on the crime her character is committing and raise awareness in society (Image: Provided)\n<\/p>\n
\n She added: “It creates a lot of debate because a lot of people say, \u2018It\u2019s a 15-year-old boy\u2019s dream,\u2019 but if you flip it the other way round, it\u2019s always seen as disgusting.\n<\/p>\n
\n “If it\u2019s a storyline that makes one person recognise that this is happening to them and it\u2019s wrong, then it has done its job.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Beth said she hasn\u2019t yet been recognised, but that one of her fellow actors – Rob Mallard, who plays Daniel – has warned her that ‘it takes about six weeks of being on the show and then it goes a bit crazy’.\n<\/p>\n
\n Since landing the role, her initial six-month contract on The Cobbles has since been extended and for Beth’s\u00a0mum – a Corrie superfan – it was a real challenge not to scream her daughter\u2019s big news from the rooftops.\n<\/p>\n
\n Beth, second from left, with the Driscoll Family in the Rovers Return (Image: Provided)\n<\/p>\n
\n Beth said: \u201cIt had to be a major secret for ages. I was told I couldn\u2019t tell anybody, other than close friends and family, but to make sure that they didn\u2019t tell anybody else.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI got the job in July, started shooting in August and it only aired in November, so it felt like a huge chunk of time not being able to tell people that you\u2019re filming Coronation Street. Me and my Mum loved watched Corrie together when I was growing up so, for her, keeping it a secret was eating her alive!\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt felt a bit weird, seeing myself on TV for the first time. It\u2019s like it\u2019s not you, because they\u2019re not your clothes.\u00a0Everything is picked out for you and your hair and make-up is done for you as well, so it\u2019s a bit of an out-of-body experience and I hate watching myself.\n<\/p>\n
\n “But, for me, I have to, because I hadn\u2019t acted for two years and I was scared I\u2019d forgotten everything that I\u2019d learned. I even got my old college text books out again!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beth Nixon, 25, from York, is currently appearing as controversial character Megan Walsh on Coronation Street – her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-324471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-tv","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}